Connection
by Mslead-Kytrin
Summary: To be selected by a Guardian Spirit is a great honor and being a paladin is an even higher one. Lance has struggled his whole life to be deserving of that title, but when his spirit rejects him — he takes bonding into his own hands. Pre-Klance AU


**Hey guys! Kytrin here with our third round story! Team Green Lion is hanging on so far and I'm stoked! I hope you all enjoy!**

 **Warning:** Pre-Klance

 **Disclaimer:** We don't own Voltron. This is for fun not profit.

* * *

 _ **Connection**_

"C'mon Blue." Lance coaxed hopefully, the small scrap of meat dangling tantalizingly from his fingers in front of the lion cub's nose, but the young lion merely stared blankly at it before giving it a half hearted swipe with a paw and wandering away to groom herself.

"Aw c'mon!" He huffed indignantly, "It's your favorite kind! The Caretaker said so!"

"Maybe you need something other than her favorite food to win her over?" Pidge suggested from where she was happily playing with her green lioness, "Take Green, she didn't respond until I started showing up with plants to decorate her space."

"Blue doesn't exactly respond to plants Pidge!" Lance huffed, "And besides, I already tried putting a nice pond and waterfall in her enclosure! What else am I supposed to do?"

"Maybe you need to do something with her?" Hunk offered from the next pen over, "Y'know, like Shiro did with Black?"

"Shiro is a senior trainee, and our squad leader." Lance sighed, "And he already had a bond with his lion. He's nearly at the point he'll pass his final tests and get to name Black. Blue's still in her spots. There's no way the senior Paladins would approve a training trip."

Pidge and Hunk glanced at each other, feeling bad for their teammate and friend. Lance had fought tooth and nail to make it into the temple to be trained as a Paladin of Voltron. They all had. But Lance, for all his talents, had not had an easy time of it. The sacred bond required to become a true Paladin had been especially difficult.

Because although Blue had accepted Lance readily enough, and she fairly glowed with good care, an actual bond had proved elusive.

After a moment of silent communication the two moved away from their lions and bracketed him, "Well... if you can't get permission to take a training trip, maybe we can do something together?"

"What?" Lance asked in surprise, looking up at Pidge's wicked grin, "What d'you mean?"

"Why don't we train together?" She suggested, her grin growing, "All three of us with our lions?"

Lance blinked, "But we're not supposed to do that until we form bonds..."

"Says who?" She asked deviously, light glinting off her glasses, "It's not actually against the rules."

"Besides, when have you ever cared about the rules, huh?" Hunk pushed his thumb up under his bandana, a big smile on his face. One which quickly faltered when he seemed to realize what he was saying, "Not saying that you should start disobeying the rules! I can barely count the number of times you got me in trouble with Coran!"

Lance blew a raspberry at Hunk, but a smile flashed back over his face at the reminder of his friend's nervous nature.

"Oh come on Hunk!" Lance protested, straightening upright and dropping his hands to his hips, "Coran _loves_ us!"

"Love is a strong word," Pidge spoke up, her voice dry and expression uninterested. But she couldn't hide the glitter of mirth sparking in her eyes.

Lance hummed and glanced over at Blue, who was giving him a curious look over her shoulder. He huffed in some frustration, fingers tapping light against his hips.

Blue was supposed to be the most accepting and trusting of the guardian spirits. Initially she had sprang right up when he was first presented to her, claiming him as her paladin.

However since then, she had been rather difficult to please. It was like she wanted something from him and he just didn't understand what was happening.

If anything, Blue was acting more like _Red_.

The thought of the Guardian Spirit of Fire and his lion made Lance scowl.

Red was renowned to be the most difficult lion to form a bond with, but he had practically latched onto his paladin. Glued to his side ever since they'd first met while Lance was trying to lure Blue out into the open with fish.

He shouldn't have been surprised though, Keith was _perfect_.

It was really hard not to be bitter about it.

Lance shook his head wildly and moved to the pen, opening the gate. He watched Blue's ears perk upright, her eyes going bright with interest at the idea of going outside her pen.

"Better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission, right?" Lance grinned and ran out, Blue bounding out on his heels with big and clumsy paws.

"Spoken like the true Guardian Spirit of Water," Pidge groaned as she turned towards Green. Her lion gave her an amused look, as if telling her she had brought all the chaos on herself.

"Allura is going to kill us." Hunk observed.

Yellow chuffed at him in amusement and butted his head against Hunk's shoulder.

"Et tu Yellow?" Hunk asked and the yellow lion chuffed again and nudged him forward, his tail swishing playfully as if to say 'Wasn't this what you wanted?'.

Pidge laughed a little at her friend's expression just as Lance poked his head back around the corner, "Hey what's the holdup you guys?"

"Well we wanted him out of his funk." She observed, and flashed Hunk a wicked grin, "We might as well have fun with it right?"

She ran forward, Green giving a happy little roar as she followed, eager to get outside for a change. Hunk blinked for a moment and glanced at Yellow before a grin curled his lips and he rushed out after her, "Hey wait for us!"

-::-

"This is more like it!" Lance grinned as he punted a large stuffed leather ball over to his lioness, "C'mon Blue! Let's show these guys how it's done!"

To his delight Blue pounced eagerly on the ball, but instead of running with it like she was supposed to she flopped over and began playing with it.

"Ahhhhhh... Blue!" Lance whined as Green bounded over and pounced on the other cub, the game of get the ball devolving rapidly into a wrestling match.

"Way to show us how it's done Lance." Pidge smirked, earning a sulky glare from the blue paladin trainee.

"Oh shut up!" He grumbled, "You haven't done any better!"

"I'm not really trying to." She shrugged, "I just think this is more fun than bayard practice."

"Yeah, well at least my bayard actually listens to me." Lance grumbled, but couldn't help but watch with some affection as Blue played with her sister and brother.

Lance missed his own family, huge and sprawling in his tiny little town by the ocean. The Altean temples were renowned to be beautiful, and they certainly took his breath away — as did a certain princess whose eyes were firmly locked on Shiro. But nothing was quite like home, and Lance found himself missing it daily. He didn't want Blue to miss her own family like he did his.

His hand brushed light against the bayard tied loose against his hip. The weapon of the paladins. His was passed onto him by Allura and had been wielded by the former blue paladin before his death, Blaytz.

It served as another reminder of a legacy he wasn't quite good enough to measure up to, no matter how skilled he was at a bow.

And as Iverson liked to remind him, it was only dumb luck Blue picked him in the first place.

He felt the heavy hand of Hunk settle on his shoulder, and he looked up to see his brown-bear warm eyes looking down at him.

"You got this man," Hunk offered back the ball he somehow managed to retrieve from the playing cubs. Lance grinned at his friends attempt to cheer him up, grabbing the ball and aiming off towards the tree line.

"Hey Blue! Come on girl let's get it!"

Pidge settled down by a log, her slim hands resting over a thick book that remained cracked open on her lap.

"Lance she's a feline, not a dog." She chided, but held her arm open by her side as Green slunk over to slide her body into the curve of Pidges.

Lance observed the way the forest seemed to bend and cradle around the two. Her bond with her lion giving her a pull over her element. Vines crawled down to entertain Green, the inquisitive lion batting at them.

Lance just snorted as he watched Blue run off after the ball, thus disproving Pidges words.

"Or Blue could totally run after it like a dog." Hunk said, "I mean, that's cool too right?"

Lance grinned and raced after her, "Hey Blue wait up!" He laughed as he raced after the little lioness, but before he could reach her, she batted the ball further into the underbrush, and bounded after it.

"Blue!" He protested, "Wait up!"

He rushed after her, and looked around, worry prickling at his chest as he scanned the green for any hint of blue fur, "C'mon Blue! We're supposed to be playing together!"

A soft, baby, roar sounded to his right and relief flooded him as he turned towards the sound. A grin pulled at him as he found the little lioness with the ball, "Having fun there?" He teased as he knelt to take the ball, "We should probably go rejoin the others though huh?"

Blue meowed at him and pulled the ball from his hand before darting off again.

"Damnit Blue!" Lance huffed in frustration as he chased after her again, but blue blended into forest green better than he would've thought and he quickly lost sight of her again, "Great. If I were a Guardian of Water where would I be?"

His ears twitched as the sound of running water reached him, and he perked up as he moved to follow it, relief hitting him again as he discovered Blue playing along the edge of a small stream. However, before he could reach her the brush around him erupted with Galra.

"What?!" He yelped in surprise as Galra flooded the area, bristling with weapons, and dove for his bayard as a net dropped over Blue.

"Well, well... what a nice surprise!" One of the Galra rumbled happily, "An unbonded Lion of Voltron just begging to be taken!" He flashed Lance a toothy grin, "We should thank you for bringing her out here kid!"

"You let Blue go right now!" Lance growled furiously as he pulled his bow back, a light arrow forming in an instant, "She's is _my_ lioness!"

"Not yet she's not!" The Galra commander laughed, not at all intimidated, "She's still up for grabs for a Galra to bond to her." He shrugged at his men, "Kill him."

Lance's scowl deepened as he loosed his arrow at the Commander, only for it to be batted away by a shield. He growled lowly and knocked another arrow and sprinted forward, desperate to make it through the surrounding Galra, "Blue! No! Leave her alone!"

His heart shattered as Blue let out a frightened mewl, trying to back away from the Galra advancing on her, "Damnit!" He swore furiously as the other Galra closed in around him, "Blue!"

"Give it up kid." One of the Galra laughed as she roughly grabbed Lance, "Your lion's lost."

Lance blinked as her laugh was cut off suddenly by a green whip suddenly wrapping tightly around her, jerking her back.

"Blue's not lost yet!" Pidge shouted furiously, "We've got your back Lance!"

Lance shot Pidge a relieved look as Hunk swung his chained mace. The large, spikey ball hurtled into the ground in front of the Galra, forcing them to scatter back as Hunk twisted the chain around one strong arm and yanked it back to him with great practice.

"Oh man, this is not good! Why are so many of these creeps so close to the Castle of Lions!" Hunk exclaimed when Lance rolled back to them his bow lowered by his hip as he settled into a crouch.

"I don't know, but I need to get Blue," Lance's eyes were locked on the terrified cub, who was trying her best to snarl and bite at the Galra trying to loop a choke collar around her neck.

"We'll have a lot more to worry about than just Blue if we don't get moving," Pidge said worriedly, her whip snapping back at her side. Between the three of them, they were better suited to distance attacks. Save for Hunk who was good in a pinch, if they were hemmed in they would be in trouble.

"You're right," Lance grit his teeth and rose, his fingers twitching on his transformed bayard, fingertips curling the light arrows along the glowing path.

"Hunk, lay down some cover." Lance glanced at his friend and then back at Pidge, "I'm going to need some of your tree friends for help."

"Yellow and Green are back at the clearing, the plants may not respond as well to me," Pidge whispered back to Lance, who just smirked back at her.

"They don't know that. All we need is a couple of leaves and branches," Lance spoke out the corner of his mouth.

He didn't give them opportunity to argue as he lunged forward, causing Hunk to spring into action beside him and whip his chain along the earth. His element responded in a slow rumble, debris and rock flying up to shower the Galra.

It gave both Lance and Pidge enough time for the former to get in closer to Blue. While Pidge used her whip to launch herself into the trees when no one was watching.

Lance didn't bother with the waterfall, his own element of water didn't respond to him like the others did and it wouldn't until he bonded properly with Blue. But he didn't need water to make his plan work.

He just needed a distraction.

With sharp accuracy, and due to the confusion caused by Hunk's attack, Lance fired off a shot at the Galra closest to Blue. The light arrow buried itself in his hand, causing him to yelp away from Blue.

Lance managed to wrap his arms around her small, compact frame, and yank her away from her captors. It caused his bayard to disappear in a shower of blue light, but he wasn't concerned about that.

He was just too happy to have her back in his arms. Despite the frantic and furious scratches she was leaving all over his arms.

"We need that cover Pidge!" Lance roared over the confusion, and to his surprise, the very canopy began to fall down around the Galra.

Leaves showered down from above in a heavy curtain, the branches dropping to the ground with a crash that took several of the battalion out.

"Whoa, Pidge! That was awesome!" Hunk cheered, looking stunned by the display as well.

Pidge, who was sitting on a branch that was completely bare of leaves, adjusted her glasses, "It wasn't me. The forest tells me these goons have been making their way slowly this way for months. They aren't fans."

And despite the effectiveness of the attack, it still left many Galra on their feet.

"Scatter!" Lance called out, "You need to get back to warn Allura and the others! Get back to your lions!"

"What about you?" Hunk called as he slammed his elbow into an attacking Galra.

"Don't worry about me!" Lance called as he curled Blue closer, "I've got Blue! We'll be fine! Just hurry!"

Pidge and Hunk glanced at each other and nodded grimly in agreement, "Alright buddy." Hunk replied, "Be careful."

Without another word Pidge and Hunk lunged into the forest, the trees themselves coming alive again to help confuse and slow the Galra while the three split apart.

Lance spared a moment of gratitude to Pidge, whose bond was clearly stronger than she realized, as he bolted away from the ambush as fast as he could move. For a mercy Blue had stopped struggling and scratching, making carrying her much easier, but only slightly. Even at Blue's age she wasn't small or exactly light, and it didn't take long for him to realize that carrying her at a run for long wouldn't be possible. He just hoped his luck held out until he either managed to circle back around to the temple or backup arrived.

A possibility that seemed to get fainter every time he heard the sounds of pursuit behind him.

-::-

"This... isn't going well Blue." Lance wheezed as he set her down and collapsed against a tree.

He'd long since lost track of how long he'd been running, or even in what direction. The Galra had lived up to their stubborn reputation and every time he'd thought maybe he'd lost them they showed up again.

Blue mewled a little and butted her head against his hand, pulling a smile from his face.

"We'll figure it out." He promised her, "I just need to catch my breath."

Lance gave Blue a crooked grin as he smoothed his fingers through her fur, "Man girl. I'm going to have to put you on a diet or something, gotta watch that figure of yours." He teased.

It earned himself another headbutt, this one firmer then the last, and Lance laughed breathlessly.

"I know I know, not very nice of me to insult a ladies' figure." Lance apologized and curled his hand around one of her ears to scratch soothingly, "I'm sorry girl. You're the most beautiful lioness there is, and I'm going to get you back to your siblings so you can show off."

His eyes skittered down to where Blue was curled against his leg, watching how she was favoring one of her paws. He tsk'd a little and gently scooped up her leg under the elbow.

She struggled a little when she realized he was messing with her hurt paw, nipping at his wrist until he bopped her lightly against her nose.

"Easy girl, let me see. I'm not going to hurt you I promise," Lance soothed her, reaching for the water canteen he kept with him and pouring a light stream over her paw to see what was bothering her.

Blue was busy giving him a cross look, but had stopped gnawing on his arm. It gave him the opportunity to look at her paw pad to see how there was a slight cut on it.

"It must have happened when you were trying to get away from the Galra, huh girl?" He asked her, getting a small meow in response.

He hummed softly to Blue, singing a quiet song as he ripped off a strip of fabric from his tunic and began to bandage up her paw.

"I'm sorry for getting you into this Blue," he apologized to her, "I don't know what I was thinking."

"Not much apparently."

Lance nearly jumped out of his skin at the new voice joining him. He leapt to his feet and drew his bayard, planting himself in front of the hissing Blue.

Only when he looked at the newcomer, his bow dropped at the bored looking man, sword drawn and glaring at him.

"Keith," Lance grunted at the Guardian of the Fire, his eyes scanning towards Red, who gracefully sat himself next to Keith without so much as a hair out of place.

Blue was busy trying to get the bandage off her foot.

Typical.

Keith stepped further into the small clearing, and Lance vaguely sort of hated him for looking so pristine when everything had gone to shit. However, he was too glad to see the other paladin and lion to complain.

"Hunk or Pidge got to you?" He asked instead.

"I'll say!" Keith growled, "They've got the whole temple stirred up! Shiro and Hunk are out looking for your sorry ass on the other side of the forest. Allura has Coran and everyone he can muster combing the rest of the place! And Iverson's talking about you doing grunt work for the next year because of this! What the hell were you even thinking?!"

"What was I thinking?" Lance demanded, his own temper sparking, "I'll tell you what I was thinking! I was thinking I was sick of Iverson reminding me I'm not good enough to be a Paladin! That I'm sick of you being Mister Perfect with your perfect track record! I'm sick of trying to live up to Blaytz's legacy when I can _see_ everyone thinks I'm a crap replacement! And I'm sick of having _no clue_ how to bond to my lioness even though I've done everything I can think of to manage it!"

He sniffed a little as he belatedly realized he was actually crying and turned around, "I just wanted a chance to try and bond with Blue." He mumbled defensively, "Nothing else was working, so I thought maybe being out here would help. It's not like I went looking for the Galra or anything."

He wrapped his arms tightly around himself, trying to brace for the tongue lashing that was sure to follow. A twig snapped behind him and he winced only to jump a mile when a hand landed on his shoulder.

"My track record isn't perfect."

Lance stared at the red paladin in training in shock. Surely he hadn't heard that right?

It must've shown on his face because Keith gave him a smile that was half sheepish, half wry, and all charming.

"It's true." He insisted, "Red and I didn't get off to a good start either. It took us over a year before our bond started to strengthen, and I was sure I was going to get kicked out or something."

Lance gawked at Keith, wordless for a change and unable to wrap his brain around his rival being anything less than the rising star in their small class. He was already so far ahead of Lance that it was hard to believe he had ever been anything less.

It was also strange for Keith to speak to him on such a ... human level.

The red paladin always remained aloof from the others. He preferred the quiet with Red, often training by himself or simply ignoring the others. It was amazing Keith even knew who Lance was.

It made him feel... better?

Lance sighed, shoulders relaxing and his fingers stroking over Blue's light cobalt coat.

"Thanks Keith," Lance shook his head, definitely memorizing that awkwardly sheepish face he had made. It was too strange and weirdly cute for Lance to ignore, "But Iverson's right. I got impatient and put everyone in danger. Blue even got hurt because of it and now we're kind of stuck."

Lance lifted up the surprised Blue and cradled her in his arms for a moment before he dumped her gently in Keith's arms. The man stumbled a bit under her sudden weight and he glanced at Lance.

"Take Blue to safety. Allura will know what to do with her and fix her foot," Lance looked at his lions soulful eyes.

He could see Keith opening his mouth to protest and his brows creased, "I messed up Keith, but I can't let Blue get hurt or captured by the Galra. I can lead them off the trail and you can use your weird ninja-training to get her to safety while they're following me!"

Keith frowned at him, but slowly nodded, "Got it." He replied as he curled his arms tightly around Blue, "Once we get Blue to safety for you Red and I will be back. So don't do anything stupid in the meantime alright? I'm not interested in dragging your corpse back to the temple too."

Lance's lips twitched upwards at the, for Keith, passionate speech. It was weird, but kind of sweet, to know the other paladin cared so much. He wondered if any of it was Shiro's doing, and immediately amended that thought to this being _entirely_ Shiro's doing. He wasn't going to complain though.

"Right." He replied, "Just look for the falling Galra bodies." He smirked as he gripped his bayard, "I may not be Blaytz, but I'd like to see those Galra out snipe me."

He took one last, lingering, look at his lioness, "I'll see you soon Blue." He murmured and vanished into the undergrowth.

-::-

Keith growled a little in frustration as Blue struggled against his grip again.

"Would you cut it out?" He huffed, "You've already cut our travel speed in half. At this rate Red and I won't get back to Lance until it's all over."

Blue just growled lowly in her chest and struggled again, making Keith unspeakably grateful for the thickness of his armor. He would've been shredded to bits by now otherwise.

"A little help here Red?" He pleaded at his entirely too amused looking lion, and with a huff that sounded suspiciously like laughter the elder feline dipped his head to stare intently at Blue.

The cub stopped struggling, and Keith got the feeling that a conversation he couldn't quite hear was taking place.

Red made another sound, one that Blue chirruped after. Keith watched the exchange with poorly concealed impatience until Red's eyes flashed up to his.

Immediately Keith's gut sank at the look in his lions eyes. He knew without words that Blue had swayed Red over to her side with whatever conversation they had.

Red nudged the back of his leg with his head, and Keith let out a rough sigh.

Defeated by the baleful eyes of the two lions, Keith looked up at the sky, "Alfor give me patience." He growled, "Alright fine you furballs! I'm going back to help him, Red, carry Blue and make sure she doesn't get into trouble."

Like her paladin.

Red picked up Blue by the scruff of her neck as Keith turned back and began marching to where he had last seen Lance.

It surprised him how much the Guardian Spirit of Water struggled to bond with his lion. They were cut from the same cloth after all, and Lance clearly cared a great deal for his lion.

He was a good paladin, a sharp study and a good leader. Lance just needed to get out of his own head, but to do that he needed to figure out where his own issues lay.

He didn't even seem to notice how much Blue cared for him, or how much she loved him. If the annoyed squeaks she was making were any indication, she had even picked up a few of his mannerisms.

Shiro liked to remind Keith that Red picked up on some of _his_ habits too.

Like being so damn stubborn sometimes.

It was just a shame he hadn't picked up Blue's confidence as well.

Keith paused a little at that thought and frowned, replaying Lance's furious tirade through his head, "I see." He murmured after a moment and shot an inquisitive Blue a smile, "He's so busy trying to prove himself he hasn't figured out he doesn't need to."

He reached out and rubbed a hand against Red's shoulder, "That sure sounds familiar doesn't it?"

Red rumbled low in his chest and Keith chuckled a little, "Yeah I'll be sure to tell him sometime."

He shook the thought off as he plunged into the underbrush. Later. He would tell Lance about his time with the Blade of Marmora after he rescued his fellow Guardian from the Galra. Right now he had work to do.

The lions seemed to both sense his newfound purpose as they raced back to the spot they'd last seen Lance.

"Shiro?" He whispered into his linkpearl, "Shiro do you copy?"

"I copy loud and clear Keith." Shiro responded, "What's your status?"

"I've secured Blue." He responded, "Her Guardian has gone to play distraction to buy us time to escape, but Blue's not having it. We're going to assist instead."

"Keith you know the risks of an unbonded Lion being taken by the Galra!" Shiro protested, and Keith smirked.

"Oh I wouldn't worry about _that_ Shiro." He replied, "Blue's as tightly bonded as a lion can be at her age. She just needs her Guardian to realize it."

That pulled an aggrieved mew of agreement from Blue and Keith had to honestly bite back a laugh at the sound.

"Nevertheless, be careful." Shiro responded after a long moment of silence, "Blue is young and could easily be hurt. Give me your location so Pidge, Hunk, and I can back you up."

Doing a quick survey of his surroundings, Keith recognized the grove where the cadets often gathered for their training. His lip curled at the corner and shook his head. Of course Lance would loop back around to familiar territory where he would have an advantage.

"I'm heading towards the wa—" Keith cut himself off swiftly, twisting around a tree and crouching down

A lone Galra slid past Keith's hiding place, and he held his breath to keep himself from being found out.

Blue squirmed in discomfort, but Red, seeming to sense the gravity of the situation only tightened his jaw to gently encourage her to be quiet. Blue settled, quiet as Keith crept around a tree and surveyed the scene.

He could hear Shiro demanding to know their location with that particularly firm tone of voice he often used when Keith was about to do something stupid. It had that slight hint of worry and caution around the edges, and Keith had become well used to the sound of it.

Keith went ahead and muted his link, knowing he was going to catch hell for it later. Considering his current position though, he figured Shiro would forgive him.

The field around him was absolute chaos. Shots of blue light burst from the spray of the waterfall in the grove, seemingly at random. It came from different places, dropping the Galra and their sentries with an ease and mobility that Keith found impressive.

Lance was a true battle archer, capable of shooting multiple targets while on the move. However he needed the distance to get strong shots in, although he was fairly capable close range as well.

The Galra were quick though, and were beginning to converge on Lance's position, no doubt that was something he had already realized by now.

"Guess that's my cue," Keith whispered to Red, swiftly climbing up the tree and deftly balancing over the creaking branches.

Climbing higher and higher, he was finally able to spot Lance. The other paladin was frowning in concentration, his fingers glowing softly with each shot he drew.

It seemed his fellow Guardian was connecting well with his element, but that wouldn't be nearly enough. He stealthily crept along the branches, eyeing the Galra below warily. It would be too easy to pull on his fire here and roast them, but the damage to the area would be insane.

Not a good option. Particularly if Pidge was feeling savage. He'd already learned the hard way that Green's Guardian was as vindictive as she was smart, and the combination was equal parts terrifying and impressive. So he decided not to tempt fate.

Fortunately, there was another solution available.

He smirked as he moved into position over what looked like a Galra commander, and dropped down, landing heavily on the man.

"Nice distraction." He told Lance mildly as he pulled his sword, "I'm glad you decided to leave us something to do though."

"What?" Lance yelped even as he took down another Galra, "What are you doing here?! Where's Blue?"

"Blue's fine!" Keith replied firmly, "She's exactly where she needs to be!" He smirked darkly at the Galra converging on him, "And as for me... I told you I'd come back!"

He lunged sharply for another Galra, silently thanking his own half heritage, and quickly locked swords with the largest one there.

Now Keith was no slouch when it came to strength training, but this guy was easily two heads taller and four times as broad. Luckily this was precisely the kind of opponent he was best at fighting.

He flipped his blade over the wrist of the Galra, his body twisting with the motion to throw him off balance. In a flash, he had his sword buried in the Galra's shoulder, his heel kicking out his knee.

He glanced back at Lance, whose bow was a little slack in his fingers as he stared at Keith in shock.

"What're you gawking at?" Keith snapped at the blue paladin. He wretched his short dagger from under his armor. He hurtled it over Lances shoulder at the Galra sneaking up behind him, striking him center chest with startling accuracy. It was enough to surprise Lance back into motion.

"Get your head in the game sharpshooter!" Keith shouted, almost jerking when his own words came back to bite him.

A shot of bright blue sailed narrowly over his shoulder. He could feel the slight crackle of a few strands of hair burning up as it blew by with centimeters to spare.

"You were saying?" Lance asked smug, giving Keith just enough time to see a Galra soldier drop down behind him.

"Fair enough," Keith allowed. Without words, he and Lance moved closer to watch one another's six. They shifted back to back, facing the Galra together that remained.

"Jeez, how many of these guys _are_ there?" Lance complained as he fired another shot into the crowd surrounding them, "Did the Galra send half their army?"

"It wouldn't surprise me." Keith grunted as he shoved another Galra off his blade, "But I don't think that's the case here."

His lips twitched into a feral smirk, "Looks more like someone decided to try and impress that bastard Zarcon by taking a shot at us. Pretty pathetic."

The expressions on the Galra's faces around them darkened and Lance nervously moved a bit closer to Keith, "Uh, are you sure you wanna poke at them like that?"

"Trust me." Keith murmured as the nearest Galra took a wild swing at him. He smirked as he ducked under it easily and slashed him across the chest.

Lance shot him a dubious look out of the corner of his eye, but he gamely kept firing, and to his surprise it became a lot easier. It seemed Keith's taunt had hit a sore spot and many were abandoning strategy in favor of simply smashing the two trainees to a pulp. He grinned a little as the two of them quickly worked out a pattern so neither got in the other's way, but even with their teamwork they were being overwhelmed.

Maybe this wasn't half the Galra army, but it was definitely _way_ more than a single battalion. Had some general decided to launch all their forces at the temple or something? He wasn't sure, and in a way he didn't really care. He was far more concerned with staying alive. A prospect that was getting harder and harder as the battle wore on.

"Keith, I'm not sure how much more of this I can take!" Lance panted, his fingers were sore and starting to bleed from all the arrows he'd launched, and though he hadn't taken a lot of damage yet, he'd taken enough hits to slow him down a little more.

"Just hang in there a little longer!" Keith shouted back, "You can do this! Shiro and the others are on the way!"

Lance tried to nod, but at that moment a lucky hit clobbered him in the back of the knee, sending him to the ground.

"Lance!" Keith shouted, moving to intercept the Galra hovering over the archer, but he'd gotten pulled a little too far away in the fighting and wouldn't make it in time. It turned out he didn't need to however.

Because no sooner had Lance dropped than a streak of blue had rushed into the battle between Lance and the Galra.

Blue let out her best roar, one that was echoed much more loudly by a charging Red, and her fur crackled with energy as she blasted the soldier with her ice breath.

Lance gawked at the sudden surge of magic from his lion, who had never so much as sneezed a _snowflake_. Blue landed light against his thigh, favoring her bad paw. Her fur was bristling in anger, but she seemed like she was far too pleased with the developments occurring around her to care. He glared at Keith, who was smirking at the sight of the angry cub on Lance's hip. Red circled him like an angry shark, puffs of red smoke huffing off his growing mane.

"I thought you said she was safe!" He shouted accusatory at the red paladin, who didn't even try to look apologetic.

"No, I said Blue was right where she needed to be," Keith argued back but kept his eyes focused on their enemies, "If you've got a problem with it, take it up with your lion! She wasn't taking no for an answer!"

"I think you're missing something important!" He continued as he launched himself over Red's back to hurtle himself at a Galra.

His arms burned from exertion, and even with all his training with the Blades, he was definitely struggling to keep this pace up. They needed a hat trick, and they needed it soon.

"What's that?" Lance demanded

"You're bonded with your lion you _idiot_!"

Lance gaped at his lioness and hesitantly reached out to touch her fur, "Blue?" He asked, soft and nearly quavering.

The cub looked back at him, a friendly look in her eye, and Lance jolted a bit as he felt something thump his brain. A little like how Hunk's dope slaps felt, and the urge to laugh suddenly bubbled up in his chest.

"I... seriously?" He asked, and though no words came, something he'd heard happened with fully bonded Paladins, the sensations of exasperation, amusement, and affection coming from the cub were unmistakable.

"But... when?"

Blue huffed and smacked his face with her tail, pulling him out of his shock, "Right... questions later." He rolled back to his feet, "I don't suppose you have a plan for this huh?"

Blue glanced at him again with what he would swear looked like a grin on her face, and a moment later he joined her as a tight series of images flashed through his head, "I gotcha!" He looked up at, "Get yourself and Red to high ground!"

"And leave you two all alone?" Keith protested, "Are you insane?"

"Nope!" Lance replied, "It's your turn to trust me!" He grinned, "Blue and I have a plan!"

Keith hesitated for a moment before something warm and confident entered his eyes and sent a delightful shiver up Lance's spine, "You got it!" He replied as he hopped onto Red's back, "Just make it fast!"

In a flash the pair had vanished into the nearby trees, and Lance shoved down his glee at the trust in his abilities being shown despite how much he wanted to just revel in it. Instead he scooped up Blue and sprinted for the water. The Lioness blasted any Galra that got in their way as he waded out into the river and dove over the edge of the falls to the pond below.

He thought he vaguely heard Keith's voice cry out in alarm as he did, but there was no time to think about it. No time to do anything except trust his lioness as they hit the water. The shock jolted him into letting go, but that made no difference as Blue's magic surged powerfully with the immersion into her element. In seconds her paw had healed and Lance found himself able to breathe and move freely as the water charged with cobalt energy.

He pushed forward and wrapped his arms back around his lioness, closing his eyes as she projected the images of the Galra locations to him. With a slow breath, Lance gathered the crackling magic from Blue. For a timeless moment the world narrowed down to the two of them, and then he released his breath as he unleashed the magic in an explosion of ice that hit every single remaining Galra.

It was as though the waterfall itself rose up in a wave to spill out against the Galra. From above, Keith watched the swirling magic as the water flooded the battle field while ice erupted and burst into being to trap the remaining Galra or throw them from the cliff.

Lance remained standing in the dry waterbed, swirling marks glowing over his face, neck and arms from where Keith could see. They were the same markings that shimmered in Blues fur, and Keith let loose a low whistle at the sight.

The markings faded, the water once more rushing back into the waterbed and leaving Lance standing hip deep in the water with Blue. He looked dazed, as if he were close to passing out.

Keith recognized the look. It was the same one he knew he sported when he unleashed the full force of Red at once. Becoming the Guardian Spirit of Fire, actually filling that role had been an incredible experience. It had also turned his legs into jelly immediately afterwards.

"Come on Red!" Keith said sharply, skidding down the trees. He skipped branches in his haste to get to lance, landing hard on his heels and almost stumbling gracelessly to his knees.

The soggy ground squished under his boots, but Keith ignored it and the faint sounds of Red's complaining growls.

He rushed to the water, wading in without pause to reach for the exhausted looking Lance.

And just in time. No sooner had he reached the wildly grinning Guardian than Lance's knees buckled.

"Whoa!" He breathed as he snapped his arms around his fellow Paladin, "Easy." He grinned a bit as he shifted Lance into a more comfortable position, "It's a rush, but it takes it out of you."

"No kidding." Lance mumbled tiredly, but he couldn't entirely lose his smile as they waded slowly back to shore. Red joining them with Blue once more tucked securely in his mouth, "Blue's alright?"

Keith chuckled a little, "She's fine. She's just tired out." He looked up as a snapping branch caught his ears and snorted a little, "And the cavalry finally arrives. Shiro! A little help here?"

The Black Paladin didn't hesitate as he waded out to help pull Lance out of the water, "What happened here?" He demanded, disbelief tinging his voice.

"Lance happened." Keith snorted, "Him and Blue."

Shiro looked at the exhausted Lance in surprise, "What? I thought your bond was incomplete?"

"Please." Keith huffed, "He's as tightly bonded with Blue as I am Red-"

He was cut off from saying more as the rest of the cavalry burst onto the scene.

"Lance you're alive!" Hunk cried as he and Pidge rushed forward, "What happened?"

"Looks like Lance happened." Pidge observed as she looked around, and grinned at her friend, "I guess the trip out worked. How're you feeling?"

"Like an overcooked noodle." Lance chuckled as Shiro helped him to sit down on the grass, "I'm seriously beat."

Hunk reached out and squished Lance into a hug, his large arms locking him to his side, "Oh man! I thought you were a goner for sure!"

"Wait, what do you mean 'for sure?'" Lance demanded, voice muffled in his shirt, "Where was the faith?"

Hunk shushed Lance and patted his head, smoothing his fingers through brown hair.

"Hey, I was just hoping we'd go on a fun nature walk, not run into Zarkon's personal fleet." Hunk dropped Lance and Blue back down.

"And that was quite the spectacular display you made," The rough voice of one of the older commanders broke from the crowd. Immediately, Lance wobbled to his feet and snapped to attention with Pidge and Hunk. Keith, who had since advanced from their level, was slower to move even though Shiro had already snapped into a smart looking salute.

More out of habit, Keith supposed. Shiro liked to be respectful to a fault, at least outwardly. Keith knew his friend was less strict then he came off, and had plenty of mocking impressions of this particular commander from his days within the Garrison.

"Iverson, sir." Shiro greeted, a muscle in his cheek twitching as his thoughts no doubt plunged to some of his more inappropriate impersonations.

"Shirogane," Iverson returned, but held no humor in his eyes. Keith ventured closer, not liking the way the commander was glaring at Lance.

"McClain here finally managed to get himself out of a scrape he threw himself into in the first place. Let's not forget he endangered not only the lion of the Guardian Spirit of Water, but also the Castle of Lions and the princess!" Iverson growled at Lance, whose brows creased.

"Hey!" Keith burst out, his easily sparked temper flaring at the somewhat dismayed look on Lances face.

"You're _speaking_ to The Guardian Spirit of Water, don't talk like he's not standing right in front of you!" He snapped, "Lance fixed his own problems Iverson and did better than you could. Get over it."

"McClain is a _trainee_ Kogane!" Iverson snapped back, "Maybe he was lucky enough to pull off a fluke once, but that hardly makes him the Guardian of his lion. _Or_ a Paladin."

"The hell that was a fluke!" Keith snarled, "I watched him invoke the full power of his lion! That was _no_ fluke! Blue gave him her power and he used it to protect all of us! You should be thanking him that he did!"

"Protect us from what? Thank him for what?" Iverson sneered, "A situation he brought on himself? For breaking the rules designed to keep his lion safe? Rules that have been in place for millennia?"

"I didn't go looking for the Galra!" Lance protested hotly, "So don't try to pin that on me! They would've attacked sooner or later anyway!"

"Lance is right." Shiro spoke up, a frown working over his face, "Maybe he did break the rules about taking Blue outside, but there was no way he could know the Galra were trying to sneak up on the castle and attack us."

"It hardly matters." Iverson sniffed dismissively, "I'll ensure this screw-up doesn't get the chance to try again."

Keith barely registered the words before he was moving, a red haze dropping over his eyes, and his fist impacted Iverson's face with a crack that was entirely satisfying.

"He. Is. Not. A. Screw-up." He growled furiously, "He's the Guardian Spirit of Water. He's fully bonded to his lion. And one of these days he will be a full Paladin of Voltron along with Hunk and Pidge. So don't you _ever_ say something like that again!"

He glanced at Lance, his rage easing a fraction at the stunned look plastered there, "I'll see ya back at the castle."

Red prowled over without prompting and Keith pulled himself up on his lion's back without a backward glance at Iverson. Red leapt away with an easy grace, and it wasn't long before Keith felt hid temper soothing under the pure freedom running with Red always brought. He curled his fingers through the dark red mane and let out a sound that was very close to content.

Red flicked his ear back at him, and he snorted as he got a jumble of amusement, encouragement, and Red's own indignation along with the image of him punching Iverson.

"I guess that was a pretty good punch." He agreed, his lips curling a bit. He was definitely in for lectures and scolding from both Shiro and Allura later, probably with a bit of Coran tacked on, but it was still worth it.

Red glanced at him over his shoulder, and sent a wordless inquiry. Curious over what had made him so angry to fight on Lance's behalf like that.

"I don't know." He huffed a little, not really paying any attention to where they were going, just trusting Red to take them where they needed to be, "I just saw that look on his face and lost it."

It was a look he knew well. That self-doubt and uncertainty buried behind an outer mask. Lance's was different from his, obnoxiously open and cheerful no matter what. A fact that had often grated on his nerves in the past. But seeing even a glimpse of it had shattered his annoyance into a thousand pieces. It had hurt something in him to see that look on his fellow Paladin trainee's face. A glimpse of something unnatural and wrong.

And however much he'd ignored it in favor of the crisis at hand, it had still been there until that moment Lance had properly connected with Blue. To see it come back, even for a moment, had just enraged him.

Red chuffed out a low roar, his lion's version of laughter, and shook his mane. Keith blinked but all he got was a surge of affection and a sense of knowing. However, whatever it was Red wasn't sharing. Not yet anyway.

"You do this on purpose don't you?" He asked the lion wryly as Red came to a halt, and slid down only to blink at the sight of his mother standing there looking some kind of cross between annoyed and amused. Which, if he was honest, was kind of her default look when he'd gotten into trouble.

Just how had she heard about this _already_ though?

The casual way she looked up from where a wickedly curved sword rested across her knees made Keith grumble a little. She smirked at him.

"Did you win?" She asked, barely glancing away from her work. In steady and swift motions, she sharpened her blade to a deadly edge that could glide through the most dense material.

"Win?" Keith echoed, sliding off Red's back.

She raised an eyebrow at him, shooting Keith a critical look that almost made him squirm. Her chin lifted and she cleared her throat, "The fight your Castle of Lions was all up in arms about. Kolivan dispatched a squadron of Blades to assist."

"I notice you weren't one of them," Keith remarked, not bothering to pretend he didn't know what Krolia was talking about, "Is he still mad about your last mission?"

"You lose one deranged hybrid killing machine on an island inhabited solely by Galra militants and you are forever left on the sidelines," Krolia mused, But didn't look apologetic, "Besides, I knew you would be fine. You had Red and the rest of your team."

Keith thought back to his supposed "team" and wondered if they would be able to work as a whole unit. Him and Shiro, sure...

His thoughts sprang back to him and Lance, circling one another to watch each others back.

A small smile worked over his face, Krolia moving over to make room for him to sit beside her.

"Yeah. I guess I did."

—::—

Lance waved off his teammates with a tired smile as he settled in beside Blue to wait for Keith to return. He was exhausted, and eager for his bed, but he wanted to see the red paladin one more time before he crashed. He needed to talk to him. To... thank him.

For pretty much everything.

The fallout from his unplanned excursion had been far less than he'd imagined. Shiro had been adamant that he wasn't going to punish Keith for breaking a rule that technically didn't exist in the first place. Especially not when it had led to prematurely triggering a Galra attack that _no one_ had seen coming.

The Blades had been especially displeased about an operation that big slipping through their nets and had actually thanked him for catching the attack unprepared and scattering the troops. They were out now mopping up the stragglers to interrogate later.

Lance was more than happy to let them.

He smiled a little as he rubbed at Blue's ears, settling with her on her bed, "We did pretty good today girl didn't we?"

She leaned her head into his caresses and purred, a sensation of happy triumph passing between them.

"Yeah." Lance murmured, "We did good. I'm just sorry it took me so long to figure things out."

Blue swished her tail a little, lightly thumping his arm, and a sense of _'warm, happy, idiot, my idiot, love you.'_ flowed into him. He grinned at that and curled his hand around her a little more, "I love you too Blue."

The sound of a footstep crunching lightly outside pulled his attention up, and he looked up to see Keith and Red moving into the pens. The red paladin looked a lot more tired than he had the last time Lance had seen him a few hours prior, and he guessed Keith hadn't gotten off nearly as lightly.

His only real punishment was he was grounded for the next fortnight to work exclusively on his bond. And he and Blue were going to be getting double training with Shiro and Black. Annoying since it meant he wouldn't be able to go into town for a while, but hardly the worst punishment.

He shifted a bit to stand up and made his way to Blue's gate, "Hey."

Keith paused and blinked in mild surprise at the sight of him standing there, "Shouldn't you be in bed by now?"

"I'll go in a minute." Lance grinned, "I was hoping to catch you before I crashed."

"Me?" Keith asked, opening Red's gate to let his lion slink in past him to flop down on his bed. The lion let out a wide yawn and settled his head down on his paws.

He let gate close behind him, his arms dropping to his side to stare at Lance.

"Yeah," Lance swallowed, wondering how to put to words what he was feeling. Keith was so aggravating, and up until today Lance probably had the worst relationship with him.

He had always seemed so aloof and above it all, not caring about his teammates beyond the moment because he was so much better than them.

However that much didn't seem to be true.

Keith had given him some insight to himself. Maybe not a whole lot, but something still.

And what Lance saw made everything inside him twitch from the uncomfortable and new feelings of something less abrasive towards Keith. Lance respected Keith, and the red paladin had allowed himself to be seen by Lance in an almost humanizing light.

And now he was struck by all of Keith's good qualities, and boy was that too much for his brain to handle.

"Just— I wanted to thank you." Lance blurted, "You didn't have to do what you did. Standing up to Iverson for me. The guy was a real jerk, I hope you didn't get off too hard."

"Training with Krolia and a few laps around the castle." Keith shrugged and gave Lance a wry smile, "Not too bad. Shiro isn't as hard an ass as Iverson is, he's not about forcing you into a mold you can't fit into."

"Speaking from experience?" Lance observed, speaking up before he could stop himself.

Keith startled, but his expression mellowed out a moment later.

"Yeah, you could say that. I was the only half-Galra in the Garrison, made it a little tough to get to know anyone who didn't just think of me as the enemy." Keith shrugged, "I didn't fit into any kind of mold they wanted me in."

"Neither do I," Lance reached out before he could stop himself. His hand resting on Keith's shoulder

Keith glanced at his hand, and for a moment Lance wondered if he had crossed a line. Keith was currently staring at the hand as if it was about to devour his shoulder whole.

"Guess why it makes sense for a bunch of outcasts and misfits like us to be a part of Voltron, huh?" Keith replied with a smile that made Lance's heart do a flop in his chest.

"I guess so." Lance agreed after a breathless moment, and gathered his courage, "Listen... I'm grounded for the next fortnight, but after that... well, Pidge, Hunk, and I like to head into town on leave days. We always meet up at this one café..."

Keith blinked at him for a moment, "Are you... asking me to join you?"

Lance shrugged a little, "Sure. If you want. No pressure or anything though!"

Keith smiled at him, his mother's teasing words from earlier coming back to him, and something in his chest unknotted a little, "Yeah." He replied, "Yeah that sounds like fun." He grinned, "But only if you let me show you around my favorite parts of town too."

Lance beamed at him, his heart positively thundering in his chest at the implications, at the slightly awkward extension from Keith, and somehow he just couldn't bring himself to mind in the face of that charming grin.

"Sounds great!" He chirped as brightly as he could considering his exhaustion, but the effect was spoiled a moment later as a jaw splitting yawn hit him.

"C'mon." Keith laughed, "It'd be pretty lame if you keeled over in the pens after working so hard to prove you're anything but."

He draped an arm around Lance's shoulders, steering him gently out of the gate, latching it behind him, and tugged him towards the barracks.

"Yeah let's avoid that." Lance agreed, waving goodnight to Blue, and letting Keith guide him. Part of him wanted to protest he could walk, but it was drowned out by the much larger part of him enjoying the feel of the Fire Guardian's warmth seeping into him.

Maybe today had been a good day after all.

* * *

 _ **And that's it! I hope you all enjoyed our latest venture into Voltron fanfic and we'll hopefully see you all next round! GO TEAM GREEN LION!**_


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